TRP: Mishka and Roddy (Blind Trust)
The Mishka Drama night, the woods. Roddy made an excellent Mikhael Haeth if he said so himself. Okay so, he was a little low on magic now, but after going on a very public thieving rampage, complete with teleporting away dramatically, it was so worth it. It had made getting away from the guards the last time a bit difficult, he'd had to actually run and hide instead. But when they turned the corner and the helpful tortle pointed out which way he went-- well that took care of that. Now. If only he could find the inn... Roddyhad figured out a shortcut by cutting through the woods, but it was a little bit longer than he'd expected. It was also dark, and kinda spooky, and Roddy'd-- Snap! Crash! Thump! Roddy'd fallen down a pit or a ravine or something. Well. That was peachy. "Hello?" he called up. "Is anyone around? I fell! Down a big deep pit! Could use a hand down here!" Coyote Mishka startled awake. It felt like Goro had left only a few minutes ago. Mishka scrambled upright and hid behind a bough, drawing the knife at his side and peering narrow-eyed into the forest. If someone had come to get him, they'd have to carry him off kicking and screaming. That voice sounded familiar. Was that-- Was that Roddy? Oh no. No no no. Mishka scrambled down the tree and padded through the underbrush, weaving through bushes to avoid breaking branches. "Roddy?" he hissed. "Rodger Sterling-Bell!" Abby Roddy perked up. That voice-- he knew that voice! This was perfect. "Pops!" he called, half trying to climb up the side of the wall. He gave up quickly when it broke off in his hand and showered him with dirt and muck. "I'm stuck, can you come get me out?" Coyote "Shh, shh. Keep your voice down, love." Abby "Oh okay, are the guards still following?" Roddy did lower his voice. Some. Being quiet was never his strong suit. Coyote "Guards?" Abby "Yeah, they were chasing me. Cause of the whole disguise as you and commit a lot of crimes plan?" Roddy frowned up at Mishka. He was starting to get a little uneasy. "Uh. Hey, how much magic did you happen to burn today? You would have enough for... a good fireball at least? Right?" Coyote Mishka got down on his hands and knees and peered over the edge, looking down at his dusty and scraped son. He let his head thunk against the grass. He felt like he was going to cry. Well. If there were guards around, still, Mishka would just kill them all. Somehow. He'd fucking figure it out. He'd stand in front of Roddy and stab them all-- or he'd boast that he was Mikhail Haeth, infamous murderer, and talk them into running. "No," he called quietly. "I'm sorry, Rodger. Do you have a rope in your haversack?" He usually insisted Roddy carry one. Abby Oh. Well. That was... bad then. "Uh. Uh yeah I do," he said, starting to scrabble around in his pack. Of course it was right on top-- Roddy loved this bag. So much better than the Gunnysack. "Uh--" he glanced at the rope, and up at Mishka, so far away. "Oh I got it!" he whistled a little tune and his magic hand popped up. "Coming up!" he called, and then cringed. Too loud, Rodger. He hurried up the rope as fast as he could. Now if they could just get out before they got caught. Coyote Mishka scrambled to tie it to a tree, then lowered it down. "Do you have your googles? Can you see alright in the dark, yaldi?" Abby "Yeah I got my goggles, I can see," Roddy confirmed. (No time to be too happy about hearing Mishka call him 'son'-- he still was though.) "Pops? If there are guards coming you should hide. I'm not in near as much trouble as you. I'll be fine!" Roddy tried to sound more sure than he was. He was low on magic, and even if he wasn't likely to get executed-- he sure didn't want to get arrested. Mishka needed to hide more though. That was for sure. Roddy would be fine-- he had a whole bunch of people to save him, if he did end up needing it. Coyote Mishka ignored this. “There’s hardly any crime in Alabaster. The guards are usually just lazy and spoiled merchant’s sons.” He’d figure it out. “Keep your voice down and they won’t come, okay? Can you climb? Are you injured?” Abby "Just scrapes," Roddy said. He grabbed the rope and winced. "Okay I think I might have twisted my wrist a little too? I can climb." It'd hurt but it'd hurt worse if Roddy got caught. So he started climbing. Finally he was up and free, hauling himself over the edge with Mishka's help and collapsing on the safe ground beside the ravine. "Lets never do that again," he said, making no move to get up. Coyote “Motion moves to the floor. All in favor, say aye. Aye,” Mishka said, and waited for Roddy to say aye as well. Abby "Huh?" Coyote “It’s a thing. In court. When politicians are voting on a motion or bill. You know, like in Skyport, when— you know what? It doesn’t matter. Motion passes.” Abby "Oh. I try to stay away from court," Roddy said. And speaking of-- he pushed to his feet. "C'mon we better go hide till the guards are gone," he whispered urgently. Coyote “Uh.” Mishka gently levered himself up. “Maybe we should get you back to the inn, aye? We’ll sneak.” Abby "Oh yeah good idea." Roddy took a second to glance around, didn't see anyone else, but he wasn't always the most observant person. "...Do you know the way? Cause I got lost." Coyote Hansel said, I’m gonna let you go, and you’re gonna walk away, and no one— not Goro, not Roddy, not Luci— is gonna see your hide again, and he said, Keep away from my goddamn family. He felt sick again. If he went back again, there was a possibility— a very legitimate possibility— his husband would, in fact, fuck him up. Roddy was acting as if everything was normal, so perhaps he didn’t know. Mishka didn’t say anything a long moment, too overwhelmed. Abby Roddy waited a second, and then a second more, and then he started to get worried. He'd expected Pops to confidently declare he knew the way, and swan off into the woods. (Whether or not he actually knew the way-- well. Roddy wouldn't have been surprised if they hadn't gotten un-lost.) But he was just... sitting there. Looking sick. "Pops?" Roddy said softly, hesitating before easing down beside him, and carefully resting his hand on Mishka's shoulder. "Did you catch something? Cause I'm sure Goro'd be happy to fix it up once we got back to the inn." Coyote “No. All good.” Mishka pushes himself to his feet, suddenly feeling— avoidant. He didn’t want to fucking explain, didn’t want to deal with it. Couldn’t. He’d just have a panic attack, and then he’d be crying and Roddy, and Roddy didn’t need to fucking deal with that. Mishka motioned for Roddy to follow him. Abby Roddy got up to follow Mishka, still with that nagging sense of something being wrong. Wanting to help but-- how? He was quiet for a while, trudging through the woods. Course it didn't last though. "You know I cleaned up today," he said. "Stole a whole bunch of stuff, disguised as you. A few times I even did a dramatic monologue before popping off. Being a villain is more fun than I thought it would be." Coyote Mishka couldn’t help but be pleased. “I knew you’d be good at it.” He wished he’d gone with Roddy, though, to make sure they both didn’t run out of magic. “Did you toss that bag of glitter when you teleported? The one I gave you?” Abby "Uh huh, I wish I had more sparkles like that when I teleported. Maybe Ill stock up on glitter, do it manually." Pops seemed not so... Freaked, talking about this. That was good! Roddy was in favor of whatever didnt panic his family. Coyote Mishka touched the trees as he walked. It was dark, and he had no sense of direction out here. City streets and roads were easy to orient himself with, but woods? He was hopelessly lost. He bent down and examined the dirt. Roddy had crashed through the woods pretty loudly. There were broken sticks and branches. Mishka began to follow them. Abby Roddy wasn't entirely sure Pops knew where he was going, but he looked like he had an idea at least. Roddy followed him, confident they'd get out eventually. "That was fun too," he continued to ramble. "Haven't done any good old fashioned theivery in a while. I thought I didn't miss it but I may have more than I thought. We should go to people in Skyport once we get back. Maybe people who deserve it though. And don't tell Joan, she might take it out of my salary." Coyote Mishka opened his mouth, then closed it. He still said nothing. If there was a conspiracy against him, Roddy wasn’t in on it. He felt pretty certain of that. If Goro was the traitor— He kept fucking thinking about that. If Goro was the traitor. If he had some motivation to get rid of Mishka. Mishka didn’t think he would— couldn’t see any motive— but weirder things had happened. In the morning, Goro was uniquely positioned to solve this little mystery easily (he could cast zone of truth, he could dispel any magic on Hansel, he could confirm everyone was who they said they were) but he was also uniquely positioned to fuck Mishka over. Pretend to cast a spell dispelling any magic on Hansel, but fake it, so that nothing happened and everyone assumed Mishka was in fact the traitor. God, fuck, that didn’t— seem right, though. His entire reality felt off-balance right now. “I need to talk to you,” Mishka said, after a pause. “But it’s going to be— upsetting, yaldi.” Abby Roddy stopped dead. Ah. And just when Roddy was starting feeling like everything was okay. "Okay," he said quietly. He wanted to know what this was about-- but Mishka'd get there. Coyote Mishka glanced down at himself. Bloody and bruised feet, scraped hands, barefoot, wearing just pants and a shirt, his hair loose and mussed. “So,” Mishka said. “First of all, this isn’t your— problem— but, Hansel thinks I... Hansel h... Hansel threw me out of the... it’s...” AbbyDad did-- what?! Roddy made a distressed noise and grabbed for his Pops arm. Maybe it wasnt as bad as it sounded though. "Why? What-- what happened." Roddy forced his voice to stay steady. He needed more information before he went into panicking. Coyote Mishka winced. “It’s— it’s fine, Roddy.” No, it fucking wasn’t. “Its... okay. Okay? I promise.” Liar. Fucking liar. Abby Roddy nodded. "Okay. Okay. I believe you." No panicking, just hear Pops out. Right. Just hear him out, its fine. Its fine. Coyote Mishka decided to explain this very carefully. “Hansel thinks that I... tampered with his memories.” He wasn’t sure what, exactly, Hansel thought he covered up, but it was— something. Something bad. “He, ah. Is displeased, to say the least.” Abby Oh. That was bad. That would be... Well. Roddy could see why Dad kicked Pops out. "That's... Why'd he think that though? I wouldn't believe it if someone told me that." Coyote “I don’t know. He wouldn’t— tell me. Goro said a... cleric came and cast a spell on Hansel to remove any curses or magic from him, and Hansel— remembered me fucking with his head.” Abby Oh. Roddy winced. That would explain it. "What do... You think really happened though?" This was turning into a complicated mess. Memory altering was nasty. Someone they knew could fix that right? They could get it sorted out and all get along again. It'd be fine. Yeah. Itd be fine. Coyote Mishka started ticking off fingers. “Possibilities— One, it’s true and I did fuck with his memories and I’m lying about it to make Hansel look crazy. Two, I fucked with his memories, but I’m crazy, and I made myself forget, or— something. Three, someone else did legitimately fuck with his memories a long time ago while disguised as me, and then they put a memory block in place so that once it inevitably got removed, Hansel would think I did it. Four, the cleric was lying and cast some sort of spell on Hansel to fuck with his head. Five, that’s not Hansel; it’s a shapeshifter meant to sow discord in the group.” He said all this flatly and impartially. Abby Roddy shook his head. "Its not one or two," he said fiercely. "Its not. This is just... Somebody else. Messing with us. Were gonna figure out how to fix it and we will fix it and- and we can all stay a family." It was scary, knowing that Roddys dads had such a big conflict right now. But it'd be okay, he told himself. They'd figure out how to fix it and it would get fixed. He pulled Mishka into a hug. Cause they both needed it. "We'll fix this," he said, to both of them. Coyote Mishka tensed. Felt himself get more on-guard, even though— he knew that was wrong, and knew he ought to feel better, or relieved. Fucking terrifying, instead. What if he had done it? And he’d tricked this innocent tortle into liking him. He’d tricked them all into lowering their guard— he’d painstakingly inched his way into Hansel’s trust— Mishka wrapped his arms around Roddy as well. His eyes stung. “That’s not how it works,” Mishka croaked. Abby "Who says?" Roddy said. He rubbed Mishka's back. "I like my idea. Means everybody gets to be happy. Cept the bad guy but who cares about him? Or her. Could be a her really." Coyote “Roddy, that’s not—“ Mishka was almost scolding him. He shut his eyes and fucking refused to cry. “It could be— it could be someone in our family.” Abby "Its not." Roddy refused to believe that. They had a good family, a great one in fact. A little rough around the edges but they cared. "I can't believe that of one of us," he said. "It'd... It'd really tear us apart so-- so I won't." Coyote Mishka averted his eyes. “And what if it is? Roddy, you can’t— you can’t trust people like that.” He said, “Say it was involuntary, like the dragon thing. What then?” Abby "Well then it still wasn't really you, or whoever it was in this hypothetical situation, so it doesn't matter," Roddy said stubbornly. He shifted a bit. "Pops... I do trust like that. And... It doesn't mean I don't sometimes wonder about... Getting stabbed in the back. I just figured out I'm happier ignoring it. Sides," Roddy gave a shaky grin. "This way I get to say I told you so, later." Coyote “Bah.” Abby "Well bah to you too," Roddy said. For good measure he pulled Mishka into another hug. Coyote Mishka allowed this. Abby There. Roddy wasn't sure if he'd proved his point but Pops had quit arguing at least. "Hey do you want my boots? Their magic!" Coyote “.... What do they do?” Abby "Cold resistance. That might not kick in till tomorrow morning though... Still looks like you could use some shoes at least." Coyote Mishka narrowed his eyes briefly. Considered. Calculated. He shrugged, looking away. “When we reach the inn, yaldi.” They were close, because Mishka had stayed focused and kept walking. He tracked Roddy’s path through the forest and to the road, then followed the road to the inn with Roddy in tow. Abby "All right," Roddy said. He could argue Mishka into taking them sooner, but-- well he didn't feel like it. A little bit drained from so much insisting that Mishka was innocent. The inn was in sight, and Roddy heaved a sigh of relief. Good. But also, he had one more question. "Hey how are we gonna go about proving you innocent and stuff?" he asked. "Do we have a plan yet?" Coyote “Don’t worry about it.” Abby "That's not a very encouraging answer." Coyote “I’m not a very encouraging person.” Abby Well fair enough. Roddy rocked back and forth on his heels, thinking. "What kind of people get spells to fix memory tampering anyway? I can ask Luci about it, she's smart like that. Maybe she even knows it. If I hurry up and talk to her tonight she could even prepare it for the morning! And then she can cast it on Dad and we'll have this all fixed up." Roddy nodded firmly. Yes, he had an excellent plan. Coyote Mishka grabbed Roddy’s arm. He wanted to say, No. Don’t bother Luci. Not yet. Wanted to control the flow of information. Keep things low key and under control. Lay low and gather info. “Sure,” Mishka said. “That... that works. Spells that remove curses and get rid of magic. That’ll do something.” Especially if Goro was the traitor. If Goro was the traitor, Goro’s next move would be to fake casting a Remove Curse spell on Hansel— then, once nothing happened, everyone would assume Mishka was guilty. If that happened, Mishka could call it out. Question it. Have Luci cast Remove Curse on Hansel next, then catch Goro in a lie. It occurred to him— with a sudden spike in anxiety— that maybe Goro wasn’t the traitor, but someone had in fact replaced Goro. And that was the person fucking with them. Goro had been arrested at the museum. What if they never got Goro back? Or what if something happened to him in the city? Everything. Everything just seemed insane. Every theory. “Do that,” Mishka said. And he squeezed Roddy’s shoulder. Abby Remove curses and get rid of magic. Right. Roddy didn't have any of those-- maybe he should think about getting them. Handy for situations like this. Although hopefully there wouldn't be any more situations like this. "See, we got this," Roddy said, patting Mishka's shoulder. "By the way that's what encouraging looks like," he said, hoping maybe a little joking would help Mishka settle a bit. Coyote Mishka scoffed. “Begone with you,” he said, trying to keep his tone light. He waved Roddy back to the inn. Abby "I'm begoning, I'm begoning," Roddy said back. He took about five steps and then remembered. "Oh yeah the boots!" A few seconds of ungainly hopping around and flailing, Roddy was bare-footed. "Catch!" he called and tossed them to Mishka. END Category:Text Roleplay